trans shop

WUTSAV8 said:
Whatever, I just wanted you to stand behind your "quality work" at the time. I really don't care anymore. But sending fake lawyers to my house was pretty lame. :rolleyes:

I was just posting my experiences in the past with your shop, hopefully to save someone the pain and suffering you caused me when I was out racing with your "racing transmission"...and I use that term loosely.

New build cost me about $4k less and has served me reliably both on the strip & the street.

Peace.

-WUTSAV8
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Peace? Who are you friggin' kidding?

Don absolutely stands behind his work except for racing use, which is completely reasonable. Nothing but positive experiences here.
 
If you will be using this as a DD I would rebuild the trans to last you a while. That means is you don't need hard parts you can get it rebuilt fairly cheaply. New clutches, shift kit, bands, and I would put a bullet input shaft and drum. If you pull the trans and take it to Steve Culhane he will rebuild it for under 1000. Check with him. I would go with a 10.5 inch converter so you can keep the lock up feature in the trans.

And for the record, Don Wang has built transmissions for me and they have done exactly what it was supposed to do. I would have no problem dropping off the car at his shop and let him do all the work. Any doubts go look at his race car. He is a very good machinist and fabricator.
 
Reggie,

I took a 2004r to Steve Culhain and he's a great guy but it cost me a whole lot more than $1k for the rebuild. It was close to $1650 as I recall.

Neal
 
I was told the trans originally had a 7 vane pump and its recommended to upgrade to the 10 vane pump. Steve Culhane also told me that a stock rebuild was fine for most things short of racing full time. He was building trans for Duttweiler 30 years ago. BTW mine was $895, I already had the bigger pump.
 
williamsGN said:
Steve Culhane also told me that a stock rebuild was fine for most things short of racing full time.
Click to expand...
No comment.

If you've found someone that will build them for 900 bucks, and the unit will stand up to anything other than full time racing, then by all means, you should be flocking to him. Sounds like a great deal to me.
 
Ayyyya...ah...a good friend of mine is wondering....
ya...thats the ticket....my buddy is wondering...
....What's it take (recommended parts) to build a 200/4R that will take up to 750HP and 750TQ and last...forever and ever...in a street driven and well used 87 GN tuned to do low 11's all day every day (...and that is 10.90's capable....ahem.:cool:..) that'll also see the track once or twice a year and about how much coin should my good pal plan on paying for such a mythical beast including R&R and a nice billet 3200rpm TQ converter w/o LU?

hmmmmmm?:biggrin:
 
meanchicken said:
Ayyyya...ah...a good friend of mine is wondering....
ya...thats the ticket....my buddy is wondering...
....What's it take (recommended parts) to build a 200/4R that will take up to 750HP and 750TQ and last...forever and ever...in a street driven and well used 87 GN tuned to do low 11's all day every day (...and that is 10.90's capable....ahem.:cool:..) that'll also see the track once or twice a year and about how much coin should my good pal plan on paying for such a mythical beast including R&R and a nice billet 3200rpm TQ converter w/o LU?

hmmmmmm?:biggrin:
Click to expand...
I'll take a stab at that one (raising and waving his hand in the air)... 900 bucks?
 
Isn't yours broken again Tim ? BTW, I said you'd have to remove if you wish to take it to Steve, he won't R&R the trans, you know what that means right ? Difference between us is I work on my cars.

Don't listen to me and Reggie though, I mean we only have about 30 years experience in these cars between us.

Don, don't know the details of WTF is going on above, but sometimes its better to be business man than a loud mouth... not real good for business, I'm sure the crowds will come flocking to you now. I surely research someone before I take anything to them, is this how you want to represent your business ?

I paid what I paid, mine is still running, and I'll take the word of the man who was building these when most of us didn't know what a GN was. After all Duttweiler did use Steve's transmissions. I told Steve what I had in my car, my sig states that, and he was confident with what he did for me including HD clutches/bands, etc, no billet parts (let me know how many have broken billet parts on their street cars) warranting it for a year as many reputable shops will do for you.

I reluctantly posted in this section again to help someone looking for a trans builder, gave him two options due to not knowing his intentions on which route he would go. No interest in what others think about my choices, "Donny" didn't like his business getting slammed on here, wonder why he returns to start slamming another guys... real classy
 
Reply

I'm just reflecting after reading this post on how in the world can anyone take a structurally weak design unit originally designed for half the power that these cars are now producing & expect a trouble free piece I have tried many trans shops in search of this elusive builder sent down from heaven. Unless your willing to spend a bunch of money on a billet parts, special clutch's, bands etc. it doesn't stand a chance of lasting very long & only as strong as it's next weakest link. I also can't imagine the twisting forces involved when a trans brake is used with over 600# of torque . I have had reasonable luck with the recent trans builder I'm using but wonder how long it will be before he realizes the futility & why any business man needs that kind of grief when there is so much more easier money to be made working for people with normal expectations & less headaches.
 
williamsGN said:
Isn't yours broken again Tim ? BTW, I said you'd have to remove if you wish to take it to Steve, he won't R&R the trans, you know what that means right ? Difference between us is I work on my cars.

Don't listen to me and Reggie though, I mean we only have about 30 years experience in these cars between us.

Don, don't know the details of WTF is going on above, but sometimes its better to be business man than a loud mouth... not real good for business, I'm sure the crowds will come flocking to you now. I surely research someone before I take anything to them, is this how you want to represent your business ?

I paid what I paid, mine is still running, and I'll take the word of the man who was building these when most of us didn't know what a GN was. After all Duttweiler did use Steve's transmissions. I told Steve what I had in my car, my sig states that, and he was confident with what he did for me including HD clutches/bands, etc, no billet parts (let me know how many have broken billet parts on their street cars) warranting it for a year as many reputable shops will do for you.

I reluctantly posted in this section again to help someone looking for a trans builder, gave him two options due to not knowing his intentions on which route he would go. No interest in what others think about my choices, "Donny" didn't like his business getting slammed on here, wonder why he returns to start slamming another guys... real classy
Click to expand...
Let me make one thing PERFECTLY CLEAR here. I DO NOT contribute to this board for the hopes of making a buck. Do you see me advertising on this board?!!! Do you see me soliciting business on this board?!!! Easy answer. NO!
I realized a long time ago, most of you probably remember, that it only takes one whack job to ruin a lot of marketing investment on this site. To me it's not worth it.
Others are more than welcome to the business if someone doesn't like the way I defend myself against whack jobs trying to ruin my name. Believe me, no skin off my back.
I consider myself, and would choose to be treated just like any other Buick TR enthusiast that likes to share his experiences. And I reserve the right to defend myself, just as any one of you would. If that gets your panties in a bunch, then TOO BAD. Learn to deal with it, because I'm not going to change my ways no matter what anyone says.
If I started ragging on you, I would hope you would step up and defend yourself. I choose not to be any different.
Thank you for listening. :biggrin:
 
turbolou said:
I'm just reflecting after reading this post on how in the world can anyone take a structurally weak design unit originally designed for half the power that these cars are now producing & expect a trouble free piece I have tried many trans shops in search of this elusive builder sent down from heaven. Unless your willing to spend a bunch of money on a billet parts, special clutch's, bands etc. it doesn't stand a chance of lasting very long & only as strong as it's next weakest link. I also can't imagine the twisting forces involved when a trans brake is used with over 600# of torque . I have had reasonable luck with the recent trans builder I'm using but wonder how long it will be before he realizes the futility & why any business man needs that kind of grief when there is so much more easier money to be made working for people with normal expectations & less headaches.
Click to expand...
AAAAMEN to that, brotha!
 
BTW, I do know who this whack job is, but respectfully choose not to post his name. That decision could always change, though.
 
Don recently took care of my trans and I would recommend him to anybody!
Thanks again Donnie!
 
why do the same nut jobs....

continue to come on this board and slam other people? when the don't have the whole story.
No billet parts?
EVERYONE knows if your car is making decent horse power, you WILL break an input shaft! and other parts.
I broke 2 input shaft /drum before I went to a billet input.
if you haven't broken one, then your car DOES NOT make decent horse power!
to me decent is 500+ RWHP.
all the research and development that goes into creating a trans that will survive, ISN'T FREE!
but some expect it to be.
if you got a screaming deal on a trans, good for you.
but to bash, or demean anyone else is just plain NO CLASS.

others choose to distort the REAL story about their trans.
when facts ( receipes , and written work orders) show differently.

DRW trans has gone out of their way to assist me in a few transmissions, with no problems what so ever!!
I know for a fact he has corrected other so called "experts" screw ups.
and he has helped other leading racers/ buick owners locally.
I will not stand by and let lo life nut cases slam/bash those who make this community a fun place to associate


its getting so people feel they have the right or duty to bash/ slam at will.
I for one , am tired of it.
no, I'm not leaving, but I will point you out ,on line, and in person .
let people see who the keyboard warriors are!
 
I know you're obviously not talking about me since I slammed no one, I have no opinion on those twos argument as to whose right or wrong. I stated, as did Reggie what Steve charges for a trans. I'm not concerned with the comments of detractors (especially yours) You are welcome to point me out and have your say in person to me any time you like, you have never in the past and I doubt you ever could.
 
Let me add this, because it's just so weird to me. This guys last (2nd) invoice was dated early 2001. Yep, that's right. Eleven years ago!

When did the billet intermediate shafts become available? Talk about nostalgia.
 
Hey WilliamsGN

Yup...my tranny which was built for a 12 second daily driver per order is ready to go since I've been giving it 50 miles per day 11 second abuse for several months now.

My previous was posted mostly in jest...sorry you missed that...gotta be quick

Now that I know the cost of a bullet proof assembly, I'm gonna go back to the builder who did my last one and tell hime $900 and not a penny more and then make sure he warranty's it forever. (Ima jesting again...see...gotta be quick.... :D)

Also....don't underestimate my mechanical and technical aptitude. Yes I know the meaning of R&R...I spelled it didn't I?:D

I have a fully outfitted and tooled 3-car garage with a well used engine hoist, four floor jacks and several jack stands as well as rolling dollies...and have had my cars in there positioned in every direction including sideways while swaping out everything form the ground up.

I built my 68 Camaro in my sig 100% on my own on the floor of my garage. I'll put it up against your GN in a run from 0-160 and lets see who wins and who blows up...
I've built 3 other first gen Camaro's also on my own and also a '56 F100 with a 5.0 drive train and full AC and a Sand Rail with a Corvair drive train...

I also do a lot of the bolt on work on my GN on my own but I leave the heavy lifting on the GN to the pro's (Papa Lou)...because he knows what works and I don't feel like crawling all over my garage floor again...and I can afford it....and I've been rewarded with one of the more reliable GN's on this board and have probably saved several thousand $ in learning curve repairs and avoided useless parts I didn't need.
I prefer to drive mine...Papa Lou sees to it that I get to do that...do the math.

Challenge for ya: Set your tune and gimme your car for a month...lets see if it can survive the punishment a meanchicken can throw at it...I'll kep the alky topped off and I won't touch anything but the hood release, alky cap, door handle, ignition key, steraing wheel, gas peddle and brake peddle.:cool:
I'll send it back to you in a day or two...ya know...so you can fix it yourself, big guy...

...and if you can't have a battle of wits with unarmed people as it says in your sig...then join the team with the big guns...we have cookies...
 
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